janitors in houston, texas, spread across a cities in the u.s. progenitors were membe strikers are in their second week. they said they faced harassment and intimidation and rejected an offer that would have raised their pay by just 50 cents an hour over five years. today is nelson mandela international day as the anti- apartheid leader and former south african president turns 94 years old. the united nations has back mandela pasquale's for citizens worldwide to do 67 minutes of voluntary work to represent the 67 years mandela devoted to south africa's political struggle. at of celebrations in south africa, mandela's wife said her husband is in good health. >> [unintelligible] he has recovered remarkably well. >> those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. a suicide bomber has struck a meeting of top syrian officials in damascus, killing syria's defense minister a